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Observation 10
Church Ten Observation Report
Sunday 9th October 2005
This low Anglican parish boasts not one church building but two. The newer church is Victorian, built when the original building was too small to accommodate the congregation.
The research team today had five members, enabling David and Sue to double up and observe the same area of the church (but from opposite aisles). This provided some level of control and their results were indeed identical, save for one child Sue could not see.
The service was a Common Worship Eucharist, complete with adult robed choir (numbering three - two sopranos and one alto). All the hymns were taken from Hymns Ancient and Modern New Standard Edition (1983) and accompanied by the organ. Some elements of the mass were sung.
The young people did not come into church until the end of communion, going up to receive a blessing before joining the congregation for the final hymn. I had been told that they usually sit in the front pew, so had positioned myself at one end of that pew (they are very long pews at this church). Unfortunately, this was one of the occasions where the presence of researchers affected where the children sat and most of them went and sat in the pew behind. This pew was not in my area to observe, but as I now had no young people in my area at all, I elected to observe those in the pew behind me and to compare my results with Ben, who had been allocated that pew from the start. The fact that the young people were immediately behind me made it much harder for me to observe them, but it was a valuable exercise, and on comparing our results Ben and I were satisfied that each of us had classified and recorded what we had seen fairly. David and Sue were also 'doubling' areas and their results showed no discrepancies.
The children were all given hymn books and encouraged quietly by the Sunday School helpers to join in with the singing. The Sunday School leaders, who evidently take their role very seriously, were at pains to point out that this service was not very good for the children and the family service has much more for them. The Sunday School has the unusual privilege of having a church all to themselves, as they are able to meet in the old church building next door. Here, the young people sing contemporary children's hymns from Junior Praise, Lighthouse, and Sing Out 1 (James Wright). The latter is also used in the primary school, which is why the church has adopted it 1. Sunday School leaders have been to a children's ministry conference in Eastbourne to gain ideas for their work.
The staff at the church were particularly enthusiastic about the research and suggested it would be useful, if further research were to be carried out in this field, to come back and observe the full cycle of services at Church Ten. As the 'mother' parish in a joint benefice of four, the clergy are spread thinly, as is the case in many rural parishes. There are problems with continuity and regularity caused by this, that they feel might affect young people's participation in sung worship.
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- A CD sampler of James Wright's work, with excerpts from Sing Out and other Gottalife Productions can be found on the inside of the back cover of the appendices [Apologies to those reading this online]. Back to text
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